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Living With Kidney Disease

SCRANTON, Pa. — The Lewis family from Moscow has a full house. Cate Lewis shares her home with her son Jay, his wife Melissa, and their six kids ages 19 t...

SCRANTON, Pa. -- The Lewis family from Moscow has a full house.

Cate Lewis shares her home with her son Jay, his wife Melissa, and their six kids ages 19 to two.

They also have a full schedule.

Jay is a bio-med technician, while Cate and Melissa are both kidney dialysis nurses. After a full day of work, Cate and Jay get dialysis at home.

Mother and son are living with the same genetic kidney disease.

If this all seems like a lot, Melissa said it's really all about perspective.

"It`s got its challenges, but you can live with it like we are taking that machine and we`re going camping with it, so that`s going to be an adventure," she said.

Cate and Jay's diagnoses may play a big role in their lives, but it doesn't define them. That's what Cate hopes all of her dialysis patients know.

"That it`s a death sentence, that it`s the end of your life, that you can`t travel, that you can`t enjoy the things you love to do. That`s so untrue, and if people aren`t educated about that they kind of get locked in to a trap thinking that," she said.

The kids keep busy too.

One year ago, they started two Facebook pages aimed at finding living kidney donors for Cate and Jay. 8-year-old Savannah runs a page of her own.

"To get my dad and grandma a kidney," Savannah said.

So far, 16 people have been tested to donate. But, none of them have worked out.

So, the work continues, but Savannah sees the bigger picture.

"It`s helping people with kidney disease, its saving people`s lives," she added.

The Lewis household is never short on hope.

"I`m on a transplant list for five years at Pinnacle in Harrisburg and I`ve gotten one call recently so I think that my transplant options will be around the corner, I hope. But, I`m hoping as a mom that he {Jay} is first," Cate said.

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